Programs as three Chicago area institutions
approached the issue of sustainable energy from three different
directions early this year, with a surprising uniformity of conclusions
and results

The three conferences were held in January,
February and March at Northwestern University, University of Illinois at
Chicago and the law offices of Baker and Mackenzie. Each tackled the
strategies of encouraging renewable and sustainable energy with very
different panels of experts and approaches.

The common thread in all three meetings was:

1.Unlike most other developed nations, the
United States has no national energy policy and few statues to enact
one.

2.Wind and solar energy offer far more than
just a greener source of electricity. The experience in Europe shows
that when a country develops expertise in wind and solar power it also
develops a new industry for technology companies and construction,
leading to valuable exports.

3.Natural gas produced by hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” may lower the cost of new power generation so
much that it makes wind and solar energy less economically viable.

4.The variability of wind and solar power
means they can’t grow beyond a certain portion of the electric energy
supply without the development of a dramatic new generation of storage
batteries.

Illustrating the last point, Europe’s programs to
encourage solar and wind energy are reaching a point that can be
described as “catastrophic success”. The portion of some nation’s
electricity generation from renewable resources has grown to the point
that utilities will soon face the possibility of shutting down
conventional power plants to make room for the wind and solar energy
they are required to use.

When King Henry
IV of France was stabbed to death in a Paris street in 1610, the murder of the
popular king threatened to plunge France back into anarchy and violence, but
skillful handling by 17th Century spinmasters kept the nation and Henry’s legacy
alive.

Curiositas is Latin for “curiosity.” We use the Latin here to refer to
its listing as a sin by Thomas Aquinas in “Summa Theologica.”Aquinas thought it sinful to have curiosity for knowledge that
did not bring man into a stronger worship of God. Here we are profane
secular humanists, and we wallow in the sin of curiositas.

If you are looking for an eclectic survey of science, history,
literature, languages, art, world affairs, human rights, athletics,
travel and music, then this is your site.

If you are looking for partisan politics, religion taken seriously,
conspiracy theories taken seriously, bigotry, homophobia, racism or
sexism, this is not your site.

The antonym of “curiosity” is “apathy,” which is also not the subject of
this site.

"The Chinese Cleantech Juggernaut" was examined by a panel in
Chicago on 11 January 2013. Check it out in the Public Affairs -
International section.

Coming Soon:

"Atypical Knowledge and Scientific Impact" tells how researchers
at Northwestern University studied citations in 30 million scientific
papers to determine how successful "outside the box" thinking is to the
success of research.